Chute.



No." 869,495. PATENTED 00129. 1907. 0. N. LANGDON & 0. E. GARLSON.

GHUTE. APPLICATION rum) NOV. 21, 1900'.

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CHUTE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV..21,1906.

N6. 869,495. PATENTED OCT. 29, 1907. G. N. LANGDON & 0. E. CARLSON.

GHUTE. APPLICATION FILED NOV.21,1906.

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CHARLES N. LANGDON AND OSCAR E. CARLSON, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNORSTO HUGO ASl-I, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

CHUTE Specification of Letters Patent Patented Oct. 29, 1907.

Application filed November 21. 1906. Serial No. 344.379.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, CHARLES N. Laxonox and 0s can E. OARLSON, citizensof the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook andState of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Chutes,of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to certain new and useful in1 provements in chutesand is described and explained in this specification and shown in theaccompanying drawings, in whiel1 Figure 1 is a front elevation of ourimproved chute; Fig. 2, a side elevation of the same; Fig. 3, a detailview of a portion of the chute looking at it from the front, the outertubular wall being cut away in central veriical section to show theinterior construction; Fig. t, a detail perspective view showing thearrangement of the doors at one story and the adjacent parts; Fig. 5, atransverse section in the line 5 5 of Fig. 1; Fig. (9, a similar sectionin the line 6-4) of Fig. I; and Fig. 7, a similar section in the line 77of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawings, A is a vertically disposed tube, preferablyof sheet-metal, which forms the outer containing wall of our improvedchute. (rentrally disposed within the tube A is a tube ll, of smallerdiameter, which operates as a stiffening member for the structurecontained within the tube and performs certain other functions whichwill hereafter be set forth. Between the tubes A and B are disposed aplurality of spiral slide sections C, each of which extends verticallythe height of one story in the building in which the chute is located,each of the slide sections C preferably beginning at a point just abovethe level of one floor and terminating just above the level of anotherfloor. These sections may be given any desired pitch so that articlespassing down the chute will move at the desired speed. It will be seenthat the various slide sections are so disposed that each forms acontinuation of the one above it, the upper end of each section beingslightly in ad- Vance of and below the lower end of the next sectionabove. A plurality of vertically shift-able stops D are provided, whichslide in the spaces thus provided between the adjacent ends of the slidesections C. Each of the stops D consists of a vertical plate (Z and anoverhanging portion cl turned in a general downward direction so as tooverlap and lit the upper end of the adjacent lower slide sections whenthe stops are in their lower position which is shown in the upperportion of Fig. 3. When in this position, these overhanging portions ofthe stop form continuations of and lie in the prolongations of theplanes of the adjacent upper slide section, so that an article passingdown the chute will slide from an upper slide section on to theoverhanging portion of the stop and thence on to the next lower slidesection without striking any should or or abutment tcnd ing toarresttheir motion.

The tube A is provided with a plurality of openings at the variousfloors. the lower corner of each of said openings being substantiallycoincident with the lower and outer corner of the slide sectionextending downwards to said story, and the bottom edge of said openingfollowing the curvature of said slide section upwards. The sides of theopening are vertical and parallel and the top of each opening isparallel to the bottom thereof, the dimensions of the openings beingsutlieient to permit packages to pass out through the same.

A discharge slide E is provided at each of the openings except that atthe upper story, so that when the door which closes any given opening(which door will presently be described) is opened and the stop D israised, any article passing down the slide sections will strike the stopin the position shown at the bottom of Fig. 3 of the drawings, and willthereby be deflected onto the adjacent discharge slide from which it canpass into any suitable receptacle, which may be provided for thepurpose. It is evident that the vertical height of the stops D is to acertain extent dependent upon the pitch of the slide, for the stop mustat all times be short enough that when in its lowered position it willnot interfere with the passage of articles beneath it on the next turnof the spiral. Ordinarily this is a matter which can very easily bearranged, for the pitch of the spiral is much greater than the verticalheight of any stop and ample room is provided between the slide and thelower end of any stop above it.

Adjacent to the sides of the openings heretofore de scribed in the wallof the chute are placed vertical guides f, f. In the preferred form ofour construction, the openings are placed vertically one above theother, and in this case the guides for the various openings can be madein continuous pieces extending substantially from top to bottom of thechute, but the angular positions of the openings might be varied, inwhich case separate guides would be placed for the separate openings.These guides embrace between them vertically movable discharge-doors F,'one for each opening, except; at the top and bottom of the building.These discharge-doors follow the curvature of the tube A and at theirupper lateral edges lie outside the tube (Fig. '7), so that the edge ofthe tube at the opening which the discharge-door closes forms adownwardly facing shoulder past which the articles moving on the chutecan slide without obstruction. At the lower lateral edges thesedischarge-doors are bent inward at f 2 (Fig. 7), so as to lie flushwith, or preferably inside of, the inner surface of the tube A, so thatany shoulders which may be presented at the lower lateral edges of theopenings are likewise downwardly facing, so that they cannot obstructthe passage of articles along the chute.

Each of the discharge-doors F has secured to it along its lower lateraledge a vertical rod F the lower end of which is turned inward radiallyof the tube A and lies in the angle of the corresponding stop D, so thatwhen the discharge-door is opened by means presently to be described,the stop will be raised with it, thus simultaneously uncovering theopening in the tube for the egress of articles and raising the stop toarrest said articles and deflect them onto the correspondingdischarge-slide E.

Each of the discharge-doors F is provided with an opening, preferablynear its lower edge, said opening being closed by an inlet door Gcarried by and guided between'two vertical guides g, g mounted upon eachdischarge-door F. Each of the inlet-doors G is arranged in the same wayas the discharge-door F, that is, with its upper lateral edge outside ofthe dischargedoor to form a downwardly facing shoulder and with itslower lateral edge bent in at g so as to lie flush with or inside of thecorresponding surface of the dischargedoor, whereby any shoulder formed[aces downwardly. By this means the two doors are provided, either ofwhich can be opened at will, and yet when both doors are closed there isno shoulder to interfere with the passage of'articles alongthe'slide-way, or to damage them in any way 7 The inlet-doors G can beraised without in any way affecting the discharge-doors F, and when soopened articles can be thrown into the chute and will pass downward inthe same in the usual way.

Each of the discharge-doors F is provided at its upper corner with a pinf which is adapted to be engaged by a hook h carried by a lifting-bar Hwhich extends from top to bottom of the chute. The hooks h are engagedby springs h which tend to hold them normally in engagement With saidpins, and said hooks are held out of such engagement by means of cords72? extending upwards from said hooks to the upper portion of thelifting-bar H, where they are attached to springs k carried by said barH, which springs overcome the actions of the various springs h and holdthe hooks against the action of such springs in the position shown inFig. 4. The cords h are provided with buttons If at the various floorsabove the doors to which they run, so that any cord can be drawn down atany floor above the door to which it runs, so as to relieve the hook towhich it is connected from the tension of the springs h the button beingpassed under a notched clip 71. (Fig. 6) carried by and movable with thelifting-bar H. The effect of such action will obviously be to throw thehook whose cord has been drawn down into engagement with thecorresponding pin f on the proper discharge-door F. Thereupon thelifting-bar H can be bodily raised by means of handles h attachedthereto, thus drawing up the discharge-door desired. Material can thenbe introduced into the chute at any floor above the one whose dischargeslide is raised, and such material will issue from the chute at theproper floor.

Owing to the weight oi the lifting-bar H, we preier to provide asuitable counter-balance for said bar, which counter-balance canconveniently be placed within the tube B, which forms the center oi thechute. This counter-balancing weight, indicated in dotted lines in Fig.2 and designated by the letter .T, is con nected by a rope which runsover suitable pulleys with the upper end of the lilting-bar H.

In most large mercantile houses the stock-room is on the top floor andthe shipping-room is in the basement.

It is often desirable to ship goods from one intermediate floor toanother intermediate floor but the great bulk of the shipment occursbetween the stock-room and one of the intermediate floors, and betweenone of the intermediate iioors and the basement or shipping-room.Obviously, no goods are ever shipped through the chute irom thebasement, nor are any goods ever received through the chute at thestock-room on the top floor, and, as a result, no doors need be providedat the open ings on these floors. However, we provide doors K, K at thebasement and top floor, respectively, to serve as tire protection. Thesedoors may be of any ordinary construction and are kept open throughoutbusiness hours. By manipulating the lifting-bar and cords as above setiorth goods can be shipped from the stock room or from any other floorto any lower floor, and if no manipulation is done all goods will beshipped to the basement. By observing the position of the liftingbar H,the employees can readily tell whether the chute is set to discharge atany floor or to transmit goods through to the basement, and thus thereis no danger of goods being improperlytransmitted.

What we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination with a wall having an opening, of two spiral sectionstherein, one forming a substantial continuation of the other, thejunction of said sections being located adjacent to said opening, and ashiftable stop interposed between said sections and having a portionwhich overhangs the lower section and does not extend above the level ofthe surface of said upper section.

2. The combination with a cylindrical wall having an opening therein anda spiral slide-way within said wall, of a door in said wall, the upperlateral edge of which lies outside the inner surface of said wall andthe lower lateral edge of which does not lie outside of said wall,whereby the shoulders formed on said lateral edges are downwardlyfacing.

3. The combination with a wall having an opening therein and a spiralslide-way 'withinsaid wall, of a dischargedoor movable in said wall touncover said opening, a shift able stop movable with said discharge-doorto arrest the progress of articles on said slide-way and deflect themthrough said opening, and an intake-door carried by said (lischargedoorand closing an opening therein.

-J=. The combination with an outer wall and a spiral slide-way therein,of a discharge-door in said outer wall, a reciprocable lifting-bar andmeans operable from a floor above said discharge-door for connectingsaid door with said lifting-bar.

5. The combination with an outer wall and a spiral slide-way therein, ofa plurality of discharge-doors in said outer wall, vertically shiftablestops adjacent to said doors and connected therewith and adapted to bemoved withsaid doors to interrupt said slide-way, a vertically shiftablelifting-bar, and means on said lifting-bar for connecting saiddischarge-doors at will with said lifting-bar, said means being operablein each case from a floor above the door on which it operates.

G. The combination with an outer wall and a slide-way therein, of amovable discharge-door, a vertically shiftable lifting-bar, a hook onsaid lifting-bar, means for holding said hook normally in engagementwith said dischargedoor, and means controllable from a floor above saiddoor for holding said hook out of such engagement.

7. The combination with an outer wall and a slideway therein, of adischarge-door, a vertically shiftable liftingbar controllable from afloor above said discharge-door, an engagement device on saidlifting-bar, means for holding said engagement device normally inengagement with said (1ischargedoor, and a stronger device overcomingsaid h0ld ing means and controllable from a floor above saiddischarge-door for holding said engagement device out of engagement withsaid discharge-door.

8. The combination with an outer wall, a slide-way therein, and adischarge-door in said outer wall, of a vertically movable lifting-bar,a hook on said lifting-bar adapted to engage said dischargedoor, aspring normally holding said hook in engagement with said door, a cordextending upward from said hook, a spring attached to said cord at itsupper end and adapted to overcome said firstnained spring and hold saidhook out of engagement with said discharge-door, buttons on said cord,and means on said lifting-bar with which said buttons may engage to holdsaid second spring out of action.

9. The combination with an outer wall and a slide-way therein, of adischarge-door, a stop having means of en gagement with said doorwhereby when the door is-raised the step will intersect the slide-way todeflect articles through the opening covered by said door, meanscontrollable from a floor above for opening said discharge door, and aninletdoor mounted upon and carried by said dischargedoor and controllingan opening therein.

10. The combination with an outer wall, a spiral slideway therein andhaving two sections, one the continuation of the other whose junction isadjacent to an opening in said outer wall, a vertically shiftable stopinterposed between said sections and having an overhanging portion abovethe upper end of the lower of said two sections, a discharge-doorcontrolling the opening aforesaid in said outer wall, a rod secured tosaid discharge-door and having a portion extended under said overhangingportion of said stop whereby the lif 'ng of said door will raise saidstop to interrupt the continuity of said spiral slide-way.

11. The combination with an outer wall and a spiral slide-way therein,of a discharge-door controlling an opening in said outer wall, saiddischarge-door having its upper lateral edge outside the inner surfaceof said wall and having its lower lateral etge as far out as the innersurface thereof, an inlet-door mounted upon and carried by saiddiscl1argedoor and controlling an opening in said dis charge-door, saidinlet-door having its upper lateral edge outside the inner surface ofsaid discharge-door and having its lower lateral edge not outside theinner surface thereof, whereby any shoulders formed at the junctions ofsaid doors with each other and with said outer wall will form downwardlyfacing shoulders.

12. The combination with an outer wall, a central hollow tube and aspiral slide-way between said tubes, of a series of discharge-doors, avertically shil'tablc lifting-bar for controlling said dischargedoors,and a counterweight for said lifting-bar within said inner tube.

CHARLES N. LANGDON. OSCAR E. CARLSON.

In presence of J. H. Laxons, C. W. \VASHBURNE.

